


Roxas was very late to work

by bro_senpai



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Axel feels bad, Deaf Character, Deaf!Roxas, Food bribes, M/M, Roxas and Axel on a bus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26431846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bro_senpai/pseuds/bro_senpai
Summary: Roxas was very late to work. The missing-over-half-your-shift kind of late. The kind of late that went past a written reprimand and was a lot closer to I’m-getting-fired-today territory.....The best way to meet someone is not yelling at them on a bus.
Relationships: Axel & Demyx (Kingdom Hearts), Axel/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 43





	Roxas was very late to work

Roxas was very late to work. The missing-over-half-your-shift kind of late. The kind of late that went past a written reprimand and was a lot closer to I’m-getting-fired-today territory. 

To be honest, it wasn’t  _ his  _ fault he was late. Well, maybe it was a little. He and Ventus had stayed up way too fucking last night for two adults who had jobs the next morning. 

(The new patch of  _ Final Kingdom _ , an MMORPG both of them had been playing since elementary school, had just dropped that night, so sue him.) 

And, as a painful result, his twin ended up sleeping right through all of the alarms set to remind him to wake up and to wake  _ Roxas _ up.

_ << _ I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry _.>> _ Ventus’ hands signed to him in a rush after shaking him awake. His twin wasn’t dressed either, looking like he’d just woken up and rushed in, which was probably the case. Roxas whipped his head around fast enough to give himself whiplash and checked the digital clock on his nightstand. 

_ 2:09 P.M. _ flashed angrily back at him.

“Fuck, fuck, _fuck_!” Roxas could only feel the vibrations of his voice in his neck as he verbalized absolute terror. His twin mouthed another useless ‘I’m sorry’ at him and then fled the room himself because he also had a job to get to. Roxas threw off his covers and rushed around the room; throwing on his work uniform and socks, grabbing his keys and the lanyard with his name boldly printed on the tag and a button attached to the neck-loop that read ‘ **HEARING IMPAIRED** ’ in bold and all caps. 

He thought angrily to himself as he brushed his teeth about how he was going to get an alarm clock that rang like their fire alarm--all flashing lights and blaring sound, the only kind he could actually hear. Fuck the noise complaints and Ventus’ ear-drums, he obviously wasn’t using them.

When he emerged from the bathroom, he grabbed his coat, sliding it on in one smooth motion and shoving the keys and lanyard into a pocket. Ventus was there waiting, looking wrecked and apologetic. <<I’m sorry,>> he was still signing as they rushed out the door and Roxas couldn’t really stay mad. He waved him off.

<<Doesn’t matter,>> he signed back. They lived on the fifth floor so they took the stairs two at a time as they went. Roxas was deaf since birth and a whole 20 years conversing back and forth in sign allowed them to easily keep up with their conversation even as they hurried down the stairs. <<Boss was looking for a reason to get rid of me anyway.>> He rolled his eyes heavily to show his exasperation and then tapped one ear. 

It was really hard for Roxas to get a real job and hold onto it, even if he wasn’t missing work. Most places came up with some bullshit excuse not to hire him at the first mention of him being deaf. Some hired him for the humble brag of being ‘inclusive’ and then tried to kick him out as soon as they realized they were going to have to actually work harder to include someone with an impairment. His boss at this current job was one of those dicks, but his manager and the rest of the staff were great, and he liked this job. It was really going to suck if he actually lost it. 

Ventus frowned as he motioned, <<Let’s just get through today. I’m sure it will be fine.>>

<<Yeah.>> Roxas sighed and Ventus gave him a pity-filled smile. Roxas glowered in the face of it. They finally reached the ground floor and made it out to the street. <<I’ll see you.>>

<<See you.>> Ventus clapped him on the shoulder and they both left in opposite directions. 

His twin had it a lot easier, the grocery store he worked at was only a couple blocks away from the apartment so he could just run. The game shop was further away. Roxas had to take the bus.

While he waited he finally checked his phone. Of course it was blowing up with texts from his manager and coworkers ranging from ‘ _ you ok? _ ’ to ‘ _ where the fuck are you? _ ’. He typed a quick ‘ _ on my way I’m so sorry _ ’ to his M.O.D and got back ‘ _ come to the office when you get here _ ’.

He was getting fired. 

When the bus arrived he stumbled on barely noticing the things around him. He’d have to start looking for a new job immediately. Ventus couldn’t afford their food, rent and utilities with his paycheck alone. They had enough put away to last a month at most so he would have to find somewhere within that time. Anywhere would do, really. He couldn’t afford to be picky…

He was broken out of his thoughts by someone shoving his shoulder.

Instantly angry, he turned and scowled at the person, but realized, at his own eye-level, he was only scowling at this person’s chest instead of their face and it pissed him off further. This guy’s stupid height was too damn tall. He had to be at least 6’2”. Looking up at the giant--who’s stupid hair was red like fucking tomatos, fuck tomatos, he’d always hated them--he saw that the guy was angrily saying something and motioning like he wanted him to move. Roxas realized he had stopped dead-center in the aisle of the bus and was holding up a line of people behind him. 

His eyes widened and he could feel his face turning red at the mistake, but his embarrassment was compounding on all his other feelings from today and all of it was manifesting right now in rage. 

He could barely read the lips of the guy was obviously yelling now as he spoke, but he caught little things like _ ‘talking’, ‘you’, _ ‘ _ fucking _ ’, ‘ _ move _ ’ and then, ‘ _ five minutes _ ’.

Without making any attempts to respond Roxas moved so people could pass and the guy’s lips moved through something like ‘ _ fucking finally’ _ and Roxas’ face burned. The people who walked past him to get further on the bus were all giving him dirty looks and he wanted to scream. Some of them were saying things, their lips moving through what was probably nothing besides snide remarks, but he didn’t bother to read any of them. Angrily he took a seat and turned to the floor as his eyes prickled with his frustration.

_ Fuck. _

He just wanted to go home already. Press restart on this shitty day. Go back to bed. Then, he remembered he’d already told his manager he was coming and that she was waiting for him in her office, getting ready to probably fire him and-- _ god dammit _ \-- this day just kept getting worse. He bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood, trying to ground himself. The heated prickling in his face was making his nose run, but he wasn’t crying-- _ thank god. _

A hand waved in his face.

He looked up at the culprit--Tomato Head, obviously--who seemed to be saying something with the way his lips were moving, but Roxas couldn’t even guess at what he was trying to communicate to him. Roxas watched him blankly trying to catch anything and the guy's face got more frustrated, but all Roxas could pick up was:  _ ‘ok’ _ ,  _ ‘sniffling’, ‘you’, ‘ignoring’, ‘trying’, ‘keep’, ‘seriously’,  _ and  _ ‘asshole’ _ . After that Roxas stopped reading, anger reaching the boiling point. 

<<Deaf, deaf, deaf!!!>> He signed forcefully, he could feel his voice vibrating out a growl as he did, before reaching in his pocket and yanking out his lanyard. He held it up and pointed for the guy to read the pin. Tomato Head reached out and glanced at it as Roxas verbalized out of complete frustration. “Can not hear! I am DEAF!” 

The sound vibrated heavily enough in his throat that he knew he had yelled without noticing the way that the people sitting around all turned to stare. He usually didn’t verbalize anything to anyone who wasn’t his twin--he didn’t know what he sounded like but he knew that in school his voice used to make the other kids laugh--, but today, what was one more humiliation.

Tomato Head didn’t laugh though. He was looking at him with large eyes and his mouth in a satisfying ‘o’ shape. The guy didn’t even have to move his lips for Roxas to read them now. His entire face said, ‘ _ oh, shit _ ’. He looked just as embarrassed as Roxas felt and Roxas wasn’t ashamed to admit he reviled in it a bit.

Roxas stuffed his lanyard back in his pocket and dared the guy to say anything else.

‘I’m sorry,’ Tomato Head mouthed too slowly and over-pronounced, ‘I didn’t realize--’

Roxas waved a hand to stop him trying to portray, ‘ _ stop _ ’ and ‘ _ whatever _ ’ and ‘ _ go away _ ’ all at the same time. He didn’t care enough to get out his phone and try to talk to this guy, but his hand seemed to get the point across just fine. He almost felt bad when Tomato Head grimaced, like he was in pain. The guy’s face was a shade of red that was desperately trying to match his hair.

His mouth was moving as he turned away making it hard to read, but Roxas just assumed it to be another sort of apology as the guy finally left him alone. He wanted to get off this bus.

Blessedly, the next time the bus stopped, it was his. He moved off the thing in a rush and ran the rest of the way to work.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


By the grace of some higher power, Roxas didn’t lose his job. He was heavily reprimanded, but when he explained the situation the fact that he physically couldn’t hear an alarm was taken into account by his manager. He was let off with a write-up and ‘don’t let it happen again’ scrawled forcefully on the note-pad between them. He worked the last two and a half hours of his shift and went home without further incident. 

<<Your job?>> Ventus asked when they were both back home.

<<Not fired.>>

Ventus smiled brightly. <<I knew it. Your manager is too nice to fire you on your first offense. Screw your boss.>> He signed the last bit with force and emotion that made Roxas laugh as he shoved his twin’s hands away.

<<So vulgar.>> He responded and Ventus rolled his eyes. 

<<Look who’s talking.>>

Ventus explained his own day at work while they sat on the couch and waited for their respective ramen cups to heat in the microwave. His manager had yelled, but he also kept his job and the rest of his day was pretty boring after that. Apparently, Ventus’ coworkers had scolded him for the rest of the day because they knew sleeping through his own alarm meant making his deaf brother late for work as well.

Roxas could tell when the timer on the microwave beeped by the way Ventus twisted to face the noise only he could hear.

<<I’m sorry,>> Ventus was signing again as he got up to get the ramen, but Roxas just let a groan rumble out and waved him off. He was getting sick of the apologies especially when everything ended fine. If he knew anything about his brother though, Ventus wouldn’t let himself live this down for a while. When Ventus came back from the kitchen he asked, <<Today, besides being late, everything else was fine?>>

Roxas thought about the guy on the bus and made a face. <<After work everything was fine.>>

Ventus read his look and pressured, <<On the bus?>>

<<Some guy.>> Roxas motioned and signed out ‘Tomato’ in lue of a name. <<I was panicking and held up the line. Tomato didn’t know I was deaf. Looked like he was yelling so loud. I’m surprised I couldn’t hear him.>> He was exaggerating as he mimicked the guy's expression from earlier, but it was a near thing. Ventus looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or be sympathetic. He landed somewhere between the two.

<<Asshole. Screw him too.>> Ventus signed the same forceful way from earlier and Roxas laughed. He could tell from the vibration and wide grin on his brother’s face he was being loud, but Ventus was the one person he didn’t try to check himself with. His twin had always told him that his laugh sounded the most genuine of anyone he’d met. Roxas didn’t understand what that meant, but Ventus explained with:  _ <Hearing people know how to make their laugh sound ‘cute’ or ‘respectable’, but it’s so fake. Your laugh is always real and it is my favorite.> _

The way Ventus always smiled at his laugh or voice made him feel like it wasn’t as strange as he knew it to be. 

<<Anyway,>> Ventus motioned, <<Why ‘Tomato’?>>

Roxas paused in eating to sign. <<The hair. Bright, bright red. Just like a fucking tomato.>> He watched his brother’s face contort around a laugh and smiled as he sucked in more noodles.

They both went to bed early, both swearing they were never staying awake past ten again. That night Roxas dreamed of becoming a bus driver and running down tomatoes as they rolled across the street. 

  
  
  
  
  


A little over a week later, Roxas had the day off. It was rare he got the day to himself on a Saturday working retail, so Ventus decided that they were going to go do something fun.

<<There is a really good seafood restaurant downtown that I want to try. I heard it’s not too expensive. You want to go?>> ‘Not too expensive’ wasn’t saying a lot when it came to seafood, but Roxas really did want to go. He had never been good at ‘days off’, he’d rather work than sit around doing nothing.

  
  


The seafood place was pretty busy when they arrived. Everyone in the lobby was crowded together with barely the room to breathe. Roxas was thankful to be deaf in moments like this. With the way everyone’s mouths moved in a steady rhythm, he imagined it must be loud. He snickered voicelessly as his thoughts were confirmed and Ventus signed <<lucky>> with a grimace as he motioned to the crowd around them.

It took them an hour to get a table, but smiled gratefully as the hostess sat them all the same. Roxas watched her say ‘your server will be along shortly’ before she hustled off into the crowd. 

<<We should leave an extra tip today.>> Ventus signed, noticing the way all the servers nearby seemed absolutely exhausted.

Roxas nodded in agreement, but then he actually saw who was supposed to be their server.

He spotted Tomato before he spotted them-- even among so many people, how could he not with that hair. He could feel his eyes go wide and Ventus, who had been in the middle of signing something to him, stopped with confusion plain on his face as he followed Roxas’ line of sight as subtly as possible. Roxas sent a motionless thanks to his brother for his tact. Ventus realized what was going on the minute he saw the man and turned back to him, signing low to the table like a whisper, <<You weren’t kidding. Really, really  _ red. _ >>

Roxas nodded shallowly as the man approached. He prayed he wasn’t going to stop at their table even though he knew already that this was going to end exactly like that.

Tomato didn’t seem to really be paying attention to what his customers looked like at first, because he didn’t even slip as he smiled at them--uber-fake and turned up to a ten, which Roxas would have been very sympathetic to if this wasn’t the man who had embarrassed him on the bus just last week. The other explanation for his lack of recognition was the bus situation wasn’t a big enough deal for Tomato to bother remembering. 

Roxas was pleased when that became, quite obviously, not the case.

Tomato was halfway through whatever he was rattling off--Roxas couldn’t keep up with most servers as they quickly spouted off whatever had been drilled into their heads to say--when Roxas watched him visibly choke. His smile grew more painful and Roxas watched him struggle to keep it on his face as he realized who he was talking too. His green eyes flitted between the twins like he was trying to figure out which one of them had been the one he’d slighted.

Ventus noticed him notice as well. He signed obviously to Roxas, <<What would you like to drink?>>

<<Water.>> He signed back as overtly as possible.

Ventus turned to the man and relayed the order. Tomato nodded and left quickly.

<<He said his name is Axel.>> Ventus’ hand moved quickly through the letters of the name as he informed him.

<<Tomato suits him better,>> Roxas replied with the confidence of someone who’s naming abilities were at a solid ten instead of his so-so four.

_ Axel  _ seemed to come back as fast as humanly possible with Ventus’ Coke and his water. He set them both on the table on top of the coasters and then, before anything else, whipped out his little pad of paper and wrote something down. Tearing the piece off, he held it out for Roxas and pointed to the menu.

_ Pick anything. _ The paper said in sloppy handwriting. 

Roxas’ felt his face scrunch in confusion even though he could sort of tell where he was going with this. <<Are you trying to bribe me with food?>> He signed even though he knew Axel wouldn’t understand.

Ventus did, however, and Roxas’ saw Ventus laugh as his twin reached out and pulled the note from his fingers. He read over it before turning and relaying Roxas’ message to Axel.

He watched Axel take in the information from Ventus before turning to face him directly again and tell him, very seriously, ‘yes’ without even thinking about it and Ventus looked like he was dying across from him. He always seemed to find other people’s misfortunes to be the most hilarious. Honestly, his brother was a sadist. 

Roxas looked down the menu at the items listed. Ventus was right, everything here seemed pretty reasonably priced for seafood, but it was still not what could be considered cheap. Roxas quickly found the most expensive item on the menu, some lobster dish priced at $40.00, and pointed it out to the man. Axel leaned over the table slightly to see and Roxas watched his shoulders move in what looked like a huff. 

He wrote something in his notepad before tearing the page again and handing it to Roxas. 

_ Of course, you pick that one. Do you even like lobster? _

Roxas shrugged and took a sip of his water. Axel rolled his eyes, but the gesture felt more playful than exasperated. 

Axel turned to Ventus and took his order before leaving. When they were alone again, Ventus signed, <<A whole pound of lobster? Seriously? Can you eat that?>>

Roxas scoffed. <<Of course I can. Free food.>>

Ventus shook his head looking every bit the exasperated older brother, even if it was only by fifty seconds. <<You’d eat anything as long as it’s free.>>

<<Not anything.>> Roxas replied, sticking out his tongue in mock disgust. He could think of a lot of things that would definitely be free to eat that he would not put near his mouth. 

He was still grossing himself out over the possibilities when the conversation abruptly changed directions as his brother signed out, <<When you explained what happened on the bus I assumed he’d be a lot more of an asshole.>> Ventus scrunched up one side of his face in subtle bafflement and Roxas found himself agreeing. This definitely wasn’t anything like the first impression he’d gotten from this guy.

<<I was thinking the same thing.>> Roxas admitted. <<I almost feel bad about the lobster thing.>>

<<Maybe you should.>> Ventus raised a brow at him before letting his face soften, <<Maybe you just met on a bad day.>> He shrugged.

Roxas threw his head back lightly like he was groaning. 

<<Understatement.>>

His brother wholeheartedly agreed with that and they moved on. Both of them conversed about little, mindless things as they waited and with how busy the restaurant was around them, Roxas was shocked by how fast Axel returned with their food.

Axel must’ve seen it on Roxas’ face because another paper was in his hands.

_ I expedited your food. _ It said. When Roxas looked back up at the man he got a wink and then watched Axel laugh heartily at his embarrassment. 

‘Enjoy,’ Roxas watched him say and then left again. 

As Roxas watched Axel leave he could feel a grin he couldn’t remember approving stretching across his face. Pushing his face back into a neutral expression, he looked over to Ventus to see his brother watching him strangely over his clam chowder, idley twirling his spoon through the soup.

<<What?>>

<<Nothing.>> Ventus replied, <<I’m just not used to a situation like this.>>

Roxas pulled his brows together in confusion and silent askance. 

His brother gave him such an exaggerated sigh, Roxas could almost pretend he’d heard the sound of it. Then, Ventus smiled and shook his head. <<Usually, when people find out you are deaf, they start talking to me and I translate for you. But, this guy is communicating mostly with you directly. I’m just not used to this reaction. It’s kind of nice, right?>>

Roxas considered this as he took a bite of his lobster--which was so good, holy shit--and realized Ventus was right. Axel really wasn’t responding the way most strangers did to his disability. And it was nice. Axel was treating him like a person, instead of some invalid who needed hearing people to hold his hand through daily conversations. 

<<I didn’t notice.>>

Ventus raised his brows knowingly, asking, <<Because it felt so natural?>>

<<I guess so.>> Roxas shrugged, playing off his feelings on the subject. He was touched by Axel communicating with him in a way that didn’t feel like avoidance and also wasn't patronizing. 

He shoved another piece of lobster into his mouth.

<<It’s like I keep telling you, hearing people don’t have any excuse for treating you differently. Even the ones who don’t speak ASL.>>

<<Yeah, yeah. Whatever.>> He didn’t want to have the conversation about what he should and shouldn’t put up with again, and especially not here. <<Eat your soup.>>

His brother made a show of taking a large bite at his behest, somehow grinning through his mouthful of liquid.

<<Gross. Shut your mouth.>>

By the time Axel came by with the bill, Roxas had eaten the entire pound of lobster. He was so full he could feel it in his throat, but it was one hundred percent worth the way Axel’s face cycled from surprise to mirth.

‘Wow, you really ate all of it.’ Roxas watched his lips say. ‘And here I was. Doubting you.’

Roxas released air in a scoff. Picking up one of the papers left on the table and taking a pen from Axel he wrote.

_ Your mistake. This was free food. _

Axel’s face moved around a laugh and he leaned over the table as he wrote below the words.

_ Well, you’re just so short I’m surprised you found room. _

Roxas scowled at him as he read it and crumpled the paper, tossing it away to show his displeasure. Childish, sure. Axel was laughing again at his antics and Roxas picked up the other piece of paper that still had ‘ _ Pick anything. _ ’ written on it. 

_ You’re just too fucking tall.  _ He wrote, and Axel stopped leaning over the table to stand at full-height.  _ Smug bastard. _

‘6’2”,’ Roxas read the playful brag off his lips and all he could think was ‘ha, I was right.’. 

Suddenly, Axel looked to the left of their table and Roxas turned into his seat to see a not-so-happy looking man, probably the manager. He was obviously telling-off Axel, but he must’ve been trying to do so quietly because Roxas couldn’t catch anything from the half-mumble of his lips. 

Turning to look at Axel, the tall man was sheepishly saying something like ‘sorry’ before he turned back to the table. 

‘Sorry, I have to run.’

Roxas nodded, a little disheartened, but he didn’t really want to get Axel in trouble any more than he was. It was still busy and he was still working.

_ Come again sometime. _ Axel leaned over and wrote on the page between them and then left them with the bill. Sure enough, the lobster wasn’t included on their tab.

<<Was it bad?>> Roxas asked Ventus, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb to where the angry manager had been standing.

Ventus made a pained face, <<A little.>>

Roxas frowned. Ventus pulled out enough cash for the tab as well as a tip. <<It’s fine. We’ll leave 25% today.>> He set the cash down and got up to leave. When Roxas didn’t stand with him he signed, <<You coming?>>

<<Yeah.>> Roxas quickly reached in his own wallet and pulled out 40 bucks in random bills and change, setting all of it on top of the rest of the cash. 

_ Thanks, Tomato.  _ He wrote sloppily on the paper before finally standing. Ventus rolled his eyes clearly so Roxas could see him, but didn’t comment any further.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Yo, Axel. This is yours.” Demyx called, handing him the cash from his last table. Roxas’ table, he thought, remembering the guy’s name from when he’d flashed the nametag at him on the bus. That had, surprisingly, not been his best moment. When he’d noticed that he was serving him and his duplicate, he’d had a mini heart attack. Luckly, the guy was pretty chill. The bribe of food always helped, anyway. At least, in his experience being bribed. 

Although, when he counted the cash in his hand, taking out his tip, he realized Roxas had actually paid for his free food. Axel couldn’t help but grin. He should’ve given the guy his number. Normally, he would’ve, Roxas was fucking cute as hell, but most romancing didn’t start with Axel yelling for them to move on a bus, and then finding out the guy he was yelling at was deaf and that he had just embarrassed him in a crowd of people. 

“Dude.” Demyx waved a hand in his face, “What’s with you? Stop loafing around. Mr. Manager is already pissed as fuck about you standing around with random customers when we’re this fucking busy. Don’t cry to me when your pay gets cut.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m moving. Shut up, Dem.” 

As he went to help the next table, shoving the tip in his pocket, Demyx stopped him with a hand wrapped around his elbow. “Wait, this is also for you. It was on the table.” 

Axel pulled the note from his annoying friend’s grip and Demyx walked away, complaining about sore feet and being tired as he went over to Larxine. 

~~_ Pick anything. _ ~~

~~_ You’re just too fucking tall. _ ~~

_ Thanks, Tomato. _

_ Tomato? _ Axel wondered, grabbing the end of his ponytail in speculation.


End file.
